Australia to spend up to $450m on cruise missiles

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Australia would spend between $350 million and $450 million on new long range missiles, Defence Minister Robert Hill said today.

Senator Hill said the Australian Defence Force's F/A-18 and AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft would be equipped with missiles capable of destroying land and sea targets.

Senator Hill said the new weapons would be introduced into service between 2007 and 2009 with Defence to advise the government of its preferred weapon next year.

"The new weapon will significantly enhance the ADF's air strike capability, providing a long-range, accurate and lethal attack against a range of targets including fixed and re-locatable targets on land and sea," Senator Hill said in a statement.

"Combined with the new air-to-air missiles and upgraded precision-guided bombs, Australia's fighter jets will be the regions most lethal capacity for air combat and strike operations.

Senator Hill said the government would choose between three long-range air-to-surface missiles.

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The three options include the Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile (JASSM) manufactured by Lockheed Martin, a variant of the precision-attack cruise missile KEPD 350 manufactured by the European company Taurus Systems GmbH and the Stand-off Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) manufactured by American-based Boeing.